Background: Obsessive thoughts represent a part of the cognitive process for stressful experiences. They are undesirable and recurring, and, generally, they can manifest as obsessions or worries. They are common both when patients receive a cancer diagnosis, throughout and at the end of treament. We observed that patients with different degrees of seriousness of breast cancer show obsessive thoughts even after treatment. This observational and perspective study examines whether obsessive thoughts and worries can be present in the diagnosis phase, during treatment and at the end of neoplastic illness, in women with breast carcinoma. Secondary aims evaluate: the clinical, socio-demographic and treatment factors associated with presence of intrusive thoughts; the response to uncertain situations and the presence of post-traumatic symptoms and their association with anxiety, depression and worry; the association between intrusive thoughts and worry, anxiety and depression. Material (patients) and methods: we collect demographical and clinical data and administer questionnaires to 135 female patients who access the Breast Unit - General Surgery for the therapeutic approach of the disease, who are between the ages of 18 and 75 years and received a first diagnosis of breast carcinoma. Participants excluded from the study are women: unable to understand the italian language; with other neoplastic disease; undergoing treatment; in pharmacological treatment; with head injury, degenerative or cardiac disease; who had been previously diagnosed with cancer and had undergone treatment. Participants complete the following questionnaires, after signing the Informed Consent:•Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R), to examine peculiar symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder;•Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ), to reveal the content and the process of worries;•Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), to evaluate anxiety symptoms;•Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), to evaluate depressive symptoms;•Impact of event scale - revised (IES-R), employed to examine the presence of post-traumatic syndrome;•Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale-12 (IUS-12), to evaluate the response to uncertain situations about the future. Results: the study is still in progress. Conclusions: the aim of the study is to verify the onset and change of obsessive thoughts and worries evaluated at post-diagnosis, during the treatment and at follow-up in women with breast carcinoma.

The maintenance of quality of life in patients with high-grade glioma is an important endpoint during treatment, particularly in those with glioblastoma multiforme, given its dismal prognosis; thus, the primary aims of treatments are to reduce morbidity, restore or preserve neurological functions, and the capacity to perform daily activities. This review aims to summarise what is currently known about neurocognitive outcome and quality of life in patients with high-grade glioma, particularly in glioblastoma patients. We considered all the variables that can influence neurocognitive functions, the perception of quality of life and their role as predictors for treatment outcomes.

Toward the end of the 1970s, the increased possibility of curing cancer influenced such disciplines as oncology, psychology, psychiatry as well as social and nursing care. Growing attention was given to psychological aspects and issues related to quality of life, survival, and rehabilitation. Consequently, the psychosocial approach to cancer has acquired an important role in its ability both to promote psychological health throughout the course of the disease and to improve the adjustment process in cancer patients. The aim of this article is to reconsider psychosocial approach in psycho-oncology, starting from the multidimensional definition of quality of life to the most recent data regarding the spiritual dimension as it is expressed in transpersonal psychology and in mindfulness interventions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between slow usual walking speed and all-cause mortality risk in older people by conducting a meta-analysis. We searched through the Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane Library database up to March 2015. Only prospective observational studies that investigating the usual walking speed and all-cause mortality risk in older adulthood approaching age 65 years or more were included. Walking speed should be specifically assessed as a single-item tool over a short distance. Pooled adjusted risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were computed for the lowest versus the highest usual walking speed category. A total of 9 studies involving 12,901 participants were included. Meta-analysis with random effect model showed that the pooled adjusted RR of all-cause mortality was 1.89 (95% CI 1.46–2.46) comparing the lowest to the highest usual walk speed. Subgroup analyses indicated that risk of all-cause mortality for slow usual walking speed appeared to be not significant among women (RR 1.45; 95% CI 0.95–2.20). Slow usual walking speed is an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in men but not in women among older adulthood approaching age 65 years or more.

8256 Background: Limited medical knowledge is a common finding in the elderly, who may be seriously hampered in their access to the health-care system due to shorter education and heterogeneous cognitive function. Objective and Methods: To assess the medical knowledge of elderly cancer patients (pts) by means of twenty multiple-choice questions dealing with the most frequent diseases of the older age, cancer screening, complications of chemotherapy, basic management of diarrhea, fever and infection. Twelve correct answers (60%) were chosen as an arbitrary dichotomizing cut-off level in order to test the different role of age (<75 vs ≥75), gender, level of education (more or less than five years of school) and cognitive function (Folstein’s MMS ≥24 vs 15–23) by means of a Chi-squared test. Results: 125 outpatients (72 of 65–74 years, 53 ≥75 years, 63.2% females) entering our Institution from March to October 2004 either for chemotherapy administration or follow-up visit, were interviewed directly by the treating physician. Sixty-seven percent had low education, but only 24% had a low MMS score. Only one third of men knew that PSA is a blood test related to the prostate gland, while 91.2% of women were well acquainted with mammography. Almost 10% erroneously believed that cancer may be a transmittable disease. One fifth knew the potential consequences of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia, more than a half were not aware of the need of huge hydration in case of severe diarrhea. While up to 72% could name an antipyretic drug, as low as 13.5% knew the trade name of an antibiotic. In the whole group, 35.2% of pts had an insufficient global score < 60%. Both short school education (p= .00) and low MMS score (p= .00) predicted a negative score, while age over 75 years did not (p= .37). In spite of education and MMS level being equally distributed among men and women, male gender predicted a higher chance of scoring negative (p= .02). Conclusions: Male gender, low education and MMS score, rather than chronological age in itself, may allow to identify elderly pts with limited medical knowledge, who are potentially at risk of not using preventive measures and of developing severe toxicities from cancer therapies. No significant financial relationships to disclose.

We have up to now tested 26 subsequent patients (pts) with high grade glioma; testing is made five times, i.e, before, after chemo-radiation and during each further chemotherapy course, by multiple psychometric evaluation, inclusive of ordinal scale (Likert), rational scale (VAS; PACIS), and interval scale (FUC) tests. Twenty-two pts are already evaluable for the first and second testing: 8 males and 14 females, with a median age of 48 years (range 27 to 70). Anxiety, initially prominent in 15/22 pts, at the second test in 16/22; Depression was initially prominent only in 13/22 and was later found significant in 16/22, seemingly due to an increased disease consciousness; Couple relationships: 2/18 couples did not change regarding affective status in between the two interviews, while sexual feelings deteriorated in 11/18 at the second testing respect the first (10/18). Treatment acceptation or compliance showed a goodscore in 11/22 at presentation and in 12/12 at the II interview. PAIN was not relevant in both evaluations. The FLIC test for overall Life Quality had non-significant changes, as 4 pts improved by 10 or more points, and 5 by less than 10, while 6 determined by less than 10 points, and finally 6 by more than 10; 1 remained unchanged. The study continues. Study sponsored in part by an AIRC grant. We have up to now tested 26 subsequent patients (pts) with high grade glioma; testing is made five times, i.e, before, after chemo-radiation and during each further chemotherapy course, by multiple psychometric evaluation, inclusive of ordinal scale (Likert), rational scale (VAS; PACIS), and interval scale (FUC) tests. Twenty-two pts are already evaluable for the first and second testing: 8 males and 14 females, with a median age of 48 years (range 27 to 70). Anxiety, initially prominent in 15/22 pts, at the second test in 16/22; Depression was initially prominent only in 13/22 and was later found significant in 16/22, seemingly due to an increased disease consciousness; Couple relationships: 2/18 couples did not change regarding affective status in between the two interviews, while sexual feelings deteriorated in 11/18 at the second testing respect the first (10/18). Treatment acceptation or compliance showed a goodscore in 11/22 at presentation and in 12/12 at the II interview. PAIN was not relevant in both evaluations. The FLIC test for overall Life Quality had non-significant changes, as 4 pts improved by 10 or more points, and 5 by less than 10, while 6 determined by less than 10 points, and finally 6 by more than 10; 1 remained unchanged. The study continues. Study sponsored in part by an AIRC grant.

The Italian Society of Psycho-oncology (SIPO) set up a panel consisting of 39 experts in the field of the evaluation of quality of life. Panel members were psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, oncologists, algologists, experts in palliative care, biostatisticians and clinical epidemiologists. They prepared guidelines in two sessions. in April and September, 1991. During the first session, the panel members discussed the answers to a multiple choice questionnaire sent by the coordinator, and in the second they expressed their agreement with the final draft of the text summarizing their discussions. The objective of the panel was to determine where and how quality of life should be assessed in cancer research. The importance of its inclusion in future oncology research and the use of the questionnaire as an effective survey instrument were established. The following questions were to be answered: